The parents of a 13-year-old boy involved in an altercation with an off-duty Los Angeles policeman in an Anaheim neighborhood last month have filed a civil rights lawsuit against the officer.

In the Orange County Superior Court suit, Alma Jimenez and John Dorscht say their son was brutally attacked during a Feb. 21 scuffle with 33-year-old Kevin Ferguson during which Ferguson fired his gun downward.

The lawsuit, filed last week, says the boy was walking home from school with a group of other students when Ferguson, standing outside of his home drinking a beer with an older man, became irate as one girl walked on his lawn.

Ferguson allegedly yelled a profanity at the girl, prompting the boy to respond to the officer that he should “ask the student in a nicer manner,” according to the suit. The event traumatized the boy, the suit says.

The incident escalated into a scuffle captured on video that went viral. It shows Ferguson detaining the boy and pulling him across a yard.

At one point, other teenage boys rush at the officer, pushing him over a hedge. Ferguson, in plain clothes, reached into his waistband, and pulled out the handgun. Nobody was hit, but the incident would draw hundreds of protesters to the neighborhood.

Ferguson’s lawyer, Larry Hanna could not be reached Wednesday but has said the officer feared for his and his sick father’s safety and believed that the boy might have a weapon.

Hanna said the officer heard the boy say, “I’m going to shoot you.” Another teen has said that the boy actually said, “I am going to sue you.”

In the lawsuit, the boy’s parents say he “suffers from a speech impairment.”

While Hanna had said his client acted within his duties as a police officer, the lawsuit alleges negligence, assault and battery, false imprisonment and excessive force.

According to the lawsuit, Ferguson “ferociously” tackled the boy, choked him in a headlock, struck him in the private area and dragged him across multiple lawns.

The lawsuit notes that Anaheim police arrived at the scene but failed to arrest Ferguson. Instead, they took the boy to juvenile hall, causing further emotional distress, according to the suit.

So far, neither the Los Angeles and or the Anaheim police department is named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

The parents filed the suit on behalf of their son and are seeking an unspecified amount in damages. Their attorney, Elena Medina Torres, could not be reached for comment.

The Anaheim Police Department has said it is investigating the incident and will present its findings to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

Dustin DeRollo, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Protective League, issued a statement about the issue.

“It comes as no surprise that a lawsuit seeking to shake down the officer for money has been filed,” he said. “We hope that this lawsuit determines why multiple young adults chose to physically assault a police officer and what the parents of these young adults could have done to teach their children right from wrong.”

Kelly Puente covers courts and criminal justice for the Register. She has worked as a journalist since 2006 covering everything from education to crime and breaking news. Kelly previously worked at the Long Beach Press-Telegram before joining the Register in 2013.